Tubular frame truck for railway cars



July 26, 1955 w. BJDEAN- ETAL TUBULAR FRAME TRUCK FOR RAILWAY CARS 2 Sheets-$heet 1 Filed Dec. 30, 1949 wmw BY b lberf Cr. Dean.

ATTORNEY July 26, 1955 W. B. DEAN ETAL TUBULAR FRAME TRUCK FOR RAILWAY CARS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 30, 1949 s R O m W E? M mm E D V III]. M Y 1 u QLL M w ww Wdw 7 ATTORNEY United States Patent TUBULAR FRAME TRUCK FGR RAILWAY CARS Walter B. Dean, Paris, France, and Albert G. Dean,

Narberth, Pa, assignors to The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 30, 1949, Serial No. 135,972

Claims. (Cl. 105-190) The invention relates to railway rolling stock and particularly to the wheeled trucks upon which the car body is pivotally supported.

it is among the objects of the invention to provide a truck of this class which is simple in construction, light in weight and one'which can be readily manufactured at low cost, readily assembled and disassembled and serviced.

These objects are in large measure attained by making the truck frame including the longitudinally extending side members and the transoms integrally connecting them of tubular and substantially rectilinear form, preferably fabricated out of steel tubing. In order to maintain the full strength of the tubular construction, cutting openings into the tube is avoided and the various brackets for carrying associated truck parts are preferably rigidly secured, as by welded joints, to the tubular main members of the frame.

The truck frame is carried from the journal boxes of the axles in a usual manner, by equalizers having upwardly extending ends terminating in horizontal portions resting on the journal boxes. To avoid cutting into the longitudinally extending tubular members to accommodate the ends of the equalizers, the pedestal guides receiving the journal boxes are attached to the longitudinal members to dispose them in a laterally, in this case inwardly, ofiset relation with respect to the longitudinal vertical plane of the side members. To strengthen the connection between the transoms and the longitudinal side members, corner brackets are provided and these corner brackets serve also for the securement of spring seats, receiving the coiled springs supporting the frame from the equalizers.

To facilitate the removal of the springs, the pedestal guides are preferably removably secured to the truck side frames, and to enable them to serve both as pedestal guides and a pedestal tie bar extending under the journal box, they are combined with the tie bar into a U-shaped member removably bolted to spaced brackets integrally secured adjacent the ends of the longitudinal members of the frame. The spaced brackets are secured through an extensive overlap with the longitudinal members of the frame and have their inner sides substantially in the plane of the inner sides of said members, and through these inner sides the U-shaped combined pedestal guide and tie bar member is removably bolted thereto.

The brackets for carrying the swing hangers are also integrally welded to the transoms so as to project laterally thereof, and the swing hangers are supported therefrom in offset relation, so that no cutting into the tubular transoms is necessary to mount the bolster. Other and further objects and advantages and the manner in which they are attained will become clear from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of a truck constructed according 2,713,832 Patented July 26, 1955 to the invention, parts being shown broken away and in section;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view, partly in section, the view being taken substantially along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are detail sectional views taken, respectively, along the lines 33, 4-4, 55 and 6-6 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is an exploded view showing the end of the side member of the truck frame, the wheel and axle assembly and the U-shaped combined pedestal guide and safety bar member in disassembled relation.

The truck embodying the invention is shown as comprising the spaced wheel and axle assemblies, as 10, the equalizers, as 11, having their upwardly extending ends, as 12, resting on the adjacent journal boxes, as 13. The truck frame, designated generally by 14, is spring supported, as by coil springs 15, from the equalizers 11 and is guided for relative vertical movement with respect to the journal boxes by the pedestal guide members, generally designated as 16.

The truck frame is constructed of the spaced substantially rectilinear longitudinally extending members 17 and the spaced substantially rectilinear transverse members or transoms 18, these members being of tubular form, in this case of rectangular tubing of steel. Such members have a high strength-weight ratio and are well adapted for securing them strongly together by welded joints and for securing other parts to them in similar fashion. In this way the tubular construction is maintained throughout without cutting into the tubes and thus weakening the otherwise natural strength of the tubular construction.

The joint between the longitudinal members 17 and the transoms 18 is further strengthened by fillets as 19, at the side of the transoms toward the truck center and by the angular gussets 24 at the opposite side. These angular gussets 20 have integrally secured thereto, the spring seats 21 which are further secured to the adjacent longitudinal and transverse members, see Figs. 2, 3, 4, to tie these parts strongly together.

As is clearly apparent from Fig. l, the equalizers are offset inwardly of the longitudinal side members 17 of the truck frame and are in the same vertical plane as the spring seats 21 associated with the adjacent longitudinal frame member. They carry the spring seats, as 24, one vertically aligned with each upper spring seat 21 and the coil springs, as 15, are interposed between the respective spring seats, see Figs. 2 and 4.

The load is transmitted to the truck frame from the supported car body through a usual transversely extending bolster 25 carried by springs 26 between it and a spring plank 27, the spring plank being in turn supported by bars 28 having their ends resting in swing hangers 29. It will be noted that the brackets 36) supporting the swing hangers from the frame, are strongly secured by welding to the transoms 18 and are arranged to support the swing hangers 29 in offset relation to the transoms, thereby avoiding the weakening of the tubular transoms by cutting into them vertical slots, as is usual, to receive the swing hangers.

As shown in Figs. 1, 5 and 6, the ends of the equalizers resting on the journal boxes are, like their main bodies, offset inwardly of the adjacent side frame and the pedestal guides 16 are correspondingly offset inwardly. To strongly secure the pedestal guides 16 in this relation to the tubular side frames, and to permit their ready removal when it is desired to remove a wheel and axle assembly or to assemble and disassemble the springs 15, each pedestal guide 16 is constructed and secured as will now be described.

Each pedestal guide 16 is comprised of a U-shaped member, see Fig. 7, which is of channel section, the sides 31, 31 of this member forming the guides receiving the adjacent journal box between them and the bottom 32 of the member forming a strong tie bar to prevent separation of the axle and frame in case of an accident, and to structurally frame the four sides of the pedestal opening.

This U-shaped pedestal guide member 16 is detachably secured to spaced brackets 33, 3 rigidly secured to and depending from the adjacent end of the longitudinal side member 17 by the series of bolts 34, passing through the overlaps between member 16 and the brackets 33, 33.

To provide a flat overlapping face the brackets 33, 33 have their inner sides, see Fig. 6, substantially in the vertical plane of the inner side of the tubular member 17. They are strongly secured through a wide overlapping welded joint to the tubular member, see Figs. 5, 6 and 7. The end bracket is carried up over the end of the tube 17, as indicated at 34, and welded. to the entire circumference of the tube, thus further reinforcing the tube in this region.

To further decrease the weight of the truck as a whole, the equalizers are preferably, as shown, of the I-section type, fully disclosed and claimed in application S. N. 664,649 filed April 24, 1946, which matured into Patent No. 2,560,505 on July 10, 1951, and entitled Equalizer Beam for Railway Trucks.

Each wheel and axle assembly may comprise, in addition to the journal boxes 13 already referred to, the axles 35 rotatably mounted therein, and the wheels 36 carried 9 by the axle, with brake discs 37 secured to the wheels.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been described herein in detail, it will be understood that changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway truck, a sprung truck frame comprising a longitudinally extending substantially rectilinear side frame member, spaced downwardly extending brackets integrally secured to each end of said member and arranged substantially vertically below the latter, and pedestal jaw members each comprising spaced pedestal guides and an integral horizontal portion connecting the lower ends of said guides, said jaw members laterally overlapping and being removably secured to the respective brackets and disposed in laterally offset relation to the vertical plane of said side frame member.

2. In a railway truck, longitudinally spaced Wheel and axle assemblies including journal boxes, equalizers at the n opposite sides of the truck having their ends supported on the adjacent journal boxes, a truck frame having substantially rectilinear longitudinally extending side members interconnected by transoms, said side members carrying adjacent their ends and rigidly secured thereto pairs of pedestal guides offset inwardly of the vertical planes of the respective side members and receiving the adjacent journal boxes between them, lower spring seats on the equalizers, opposed upper spring seats integrally secured, respectively,

to the longitudinal side members and the transoms in the angles between them, and springs interposed between the upper and lower spring seats.

3. In a railway truck, a frame including longitudinally extending side members, each having spaced vertically extending brackets rigidly secured to each end thereof, one face of each bracket being substantially in vertical alignment with the vertical plane through a side of the associated longitudinal member, and a unitary combined pedestal guide and tie bar member adapted to seat against said faces of adjacent brackets and be secured thereto disposing said combined member in laterally offset relation to the vertical plane of the associated side member.

4. In a railway truck, a sprung truck frame comprising a longitudinally extending substantially rectilinear side frame member, spaced downwardly extending brackets carried at each end of said side frame member, pedestal gLdes secured to the inner sides of the brackets and laterally inwardly of the vertical plane of the inner side of said side frame member, a journal box mounted in said guides inwardly of the vertical plane of the inner side of said side frame member, and an equalizer beam mounted on said inwardly mounted journal boxes and disposed at the inner side of the vertical plane of the inner side of said side frame member.

5. in a railway truck, a sprung truck frame comprising on each side a longitudinally extending side frame member, integral transoms connecting the side frame members between their center and ends, spaced downwardly extending brackets integrally secured to the ends of a side frame member, pedestal guides secured to the inner sides of the brackets and disposed laterally inside the vertical plane of the inner side of said side frame member, journal boxes mounted in said guides laterally inside the vertical plane of the side frame member, an equalizer beam mounted on said journal boxes and disposed laterally inside the vertical plane of the side frame member, and springs resting on said equalizer beam and engaging said frame in the region of the junctions of said transoms with said side frame member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 365,939 Post July 5, 1887 934,955 Woodward Sept. 21, 1909 1,664,831 Pflager Apr. 3, 1928 1,730,035 Gregg Oct. 1, 1929 1,730,036 Gregg Oct. 1, 1929 2,056,219 Stout et al Oct. F, 1936 2,190,763 Anderson Feb. 20, 1940 2,197,110 Muchnic Apr. 16, 1940 2,255,439 Kjolseth Sept. 9, 1941 2,330,912 Pfiager Oct. 5, 1943 2,365,692 Frede et a1 Dec. 26, 1944 2,488,768 Eksergian Nov. 22, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 621,004 Germany Nov. 8, 1935 

